UID:
almafu_9960169877302883
Format:
1 online resource (216 p.)
ISBN:
9781474475785
Series Statement:
Edinburgh Critical Studies in Romanticism : ECSR
Content:
Examines the place of media technology in the literary and intellectual history of Romantic-era BritainExplores the literary figuration of media technology and its useOffers a fresh reading of Godwin’s corpus, which involves an unusual claim about its fundamental consistency across time and generic boundariesExamines major controversies of the period, including: the physiology of the mind; the ethics of novel-reading; practical reading advice; the nature of truth; the nature of afterlifeDraws attention to the enormous impact of protestant dissent on the literature and philosophy of the Romantic periodGodwin and the Book explores a network of controversies concerning the relationship of media form to social futurity in Romantic-period Britain through the writing of the notorious philosopher-novelist William Godwin (1756–1836). It offers a fresh reading of Godwin’s fifty-year corpus, using evidence from his fiction, philosophy and essays to argue that, throughout his career, he figured books and reading in particular ways in order to defend a set of inherited beliefs about intellectual perfectibility. In the process, it highlights many wider debates that marked out the culture of this period – including disagreements over the physiology of the mind, the ethics of novel-reading, and the social consequences of death – and considers how these debates were intertwined with the formal development of British prose in the period.
Note:
Frontmatter --
,
Contents --
,
Acknowledgements --
,
Abbreviations --
,
Introduction --
,
1. The Matter of the Reader: Materialism and Private Judgement --
,
2. The Ethics of Novel-Reading: Fiction and Moral Law --
,
3. The Discipline of Reading: ‘Enquiry’ and Religious Dissent --
,
4. Truth and Social Media: Books and Intellectual Regulation --
,
5. Books, Bodies and Monuments: Print and Perfectibility --
,
Bibliography --
,
Index
,
In English.
Language:
English
Subjects:
English Studies
DOI:
10.1515/9781474475785
URL:
https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9781474475785
URL:
https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9781474475785
URL:
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474475785
URL:
https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9781474475785
